Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for confirming that the decision is to be made in November. At least we have the time span. Looking at the background to this - and it has been brought to my attention by someone who wants to come into the country - I will say at the outset that we should not have let this crisis happen in the first place. We should have had enough graduates of our own and we should have dealt with this before. We are now at this point in our lives.

In March 2022, Irish Dental Association research showed that at least 500 dentists were needed across the public and private sectors at that point. Two thirds of dentist vacancies were left unfulfilled in 2022. It was pointed out, as we know, that staffing shortages are having an impact on patient access to dental care. Two thirds of practices said that their capacity to treat emergency appointments had reduced over the past year. Research from this year highlighted that we are short of dentists, dental nurses and hygienists, pointed out that there is a lack of graduates, and recommended work change permits and so on. The research is there for us all to see, and it has been there for some years.

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